


Welcome Back to my Channel!

by Stralia_Harker



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Gay Billy Hargrove, M/M, Mild Angst, Past Abuse, Slurs, Social Media, mentions of abuse, mentions of neil hargrove - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23784178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stralia_Harker/pseuds/Stralia_Harker
Summary: Steve's got a Youtube channel, his followers want to know a more about Billy and their relationship. Storytime and Q&A for Steve's followers.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 3
Kudos: 110





	1. Storytime with Billy

“Hi everybody, thanks for tuning in. So I know you’re all used to seeing Steve here, this is his channel but we’re going to do something different today. I’ve been a fixture on his channel for a while now. But I’ve been in Steve’s life a lot longer. We thought we’d answer some of your requests for a q&a and so before Steve joins us I thought I’d tell you about me.” 

Billy took a sip of his redbull. He smiled at someone off camera then reached down and shuffled some papers. He was nervous about telling the world about his past. He was a little worried about what people would think about him. He knew it sounded a little absurd, he was Billy Hargrove after all, but Steve loved his followers, he wanted them to think he deserved Steve. 

“I grew up in California, just me, my mom and my dad. I learned to surf at a young age and my mother would take me to the beach, let me spend the day surfing. My dad worked and my mom was a stay at home mom. We had a small two bedroom house. My mom was a loving woman, kind. My dad, he was another story. He is an abusive, sexist,racist, misogyinistic, homophobic bigot. I didn’t understand that for the longest time. Not til my mom left.” 

Billy took a breath, sipped some more redbull and refocused. He knew he skimmed over his childhood but there really wasn’t much to tell up until his mom left. Up til then life had been relatively normal, he recalled a few incidents where he hadn’t been allowed to hang out with someone, he never asked why. Looking back Billy had realized it was due to the kids race. He was getting to the hard part, focusing on his dad.

“My dad was always a stern man. I remember if my mom and I went out she’d constantly check her watch, we always had to leave at a specific time. When we got home I had to wash up while she made dinner, then I either had to be doing my homework or playing quietly in my room. Dinner had to be ready at 6 pm, exactly 20 minutes after he walked in the door. I had to be in bed by 8:30. The schedule was strict, if we didn’t adhere, there’d be yelling. She’d always shuffle me away when it started. She left when I was 10, he accused her of cheating, and he hit her. I got in between but he shoved me. When I woke up the next day she was gone. I was able to call her a few times but she never came back for me. She’d left me with him, and soon his fists came my way.”

He stopped and took another break, he needed a couple deep breaths. It was always hard to talk about his mom leaving. He’d never understand how a parent could just leave their child. It still hurt him to think about. He had quit being angry a while ago but the pain was still there. He cleared his throat and got ready for the next part. 

“He’d hit me for the littlest things, if I sighed wrong, if I sneezed while he was lecturing me. One time he hit me because I took too long bringing him a beer. I got mean. I’d bully other kids into submission. I learned real quick to use my fists to get my point across. I was meaner after he’d hit me. I’d take everything out on others, if I couldn’t hit him I was going to hit someone else. I did it to Steve, not too long after we’d met. I’ll regret that every day til I die, even though he’s forgiven me.”   
Billy swallowed the lump that had formed. He hated thinking about that moment, how he’d almost killed Steve. He wouldn’t have stopped and it still tore him up. It twisted him up to think about how close to becoming Neil he had been. Steve and Max, they’d been his saving grace, the only two people who had been able to pull him from Neil’s orbit. Billy’s hands came into view, he was playing with the rings on his left hand. He was coming up to the part of him that he’d only been sharing publicly for a few months. Privately he’d acknowledged it a few years ago. He was still getting used to being able to speak about it freely. 

“My dad started calling me a faggot when I was a kid. My mom was always appalled and told me not to repeat it. Told me it was a mean word, I didn’t understand why my dad would call me a mean word. She just told me he would get frustrated and say things he didn’t really mean. I wasn’t allowed to color or draw. If I did anything that resembled something a girl would do, he’d call me a faggot. If I showed any emotion other than anger, I was a faggot.” 

Billy stopped again, gathering himself. He looked over at Steve who was behind the camera. He smiled at Billy, asked if he needed a break. Billy shook his head, he wanted to finish, didn’t think he would if he stopped. He at least wanted to talk about how he struggled with his sexuality. He wanted people to know about that. 

“I was thirteen when I realized what exactly the word meant. I remember seeing a boy with wavy brown hair and a golden tan. While all my friends were admiring the girl with him, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I watched the way the muscles flexed and how his smile reached his eyes. I wanted to touch him. I remember being so terrified, I thought my dad would know. I was exactly what he thought I was. So I chased girls. I watched my friends and did what they did. Eventually I found guys who could keep quiet. Most understood I wasn’t out yet. Then I met Cameron.”

Billy looked over at Steve, he was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, elbows resting on his knees. Steve had heard about Cameron before but Billy still felt a little weird talking about him in front of Steve. He thinks maybe it’s because Steve always looks like he’s ready to kill when Billy tells this story. He also always looks a little heartbroken, not for him, but for Billy. And it still makes Billy’s heart ache to know Steve feels his hurt too. 

“I liked Cameron. He was funny and stupid hot. We’d hang out at the beach, make out, talk. We were a couple. He wasn’t out either, so we would sneak around. We had a lot of common interests. I was happy, I thought I might be a little bit in love. And I was sure he felt the same, with the way he’d say my name, the way he touched me and his promises. Always promised me something better. His parents came home early, caught us as Cameron was going down on me,he blamed me. He told them I came onto him, I talked him into it. They called my father. Cameron had the nerve to message me, begging me to cover for him. He showed up two days later when I still hadn’t answered him. I was lucky no one was home. He got the shock of his life when I answered the door, three broken ribs, fractured cheek, black eye, and split lip. He didn’t even say sorry, just said ‘that sucks’ and ‘my parents would kill me.’ Completely ignoring the evidence that my parent almost did. We left town a week later. Two months after that Cameron came out to his parents. They introduced him to his next boyfriend.” 

Billy looked down, he felt the tears in his eyes, still felt the sting of that betrayal. He paid dearly for their relationship. And for all of Cameron’s pleading, he got off scot free. His parents had paid for his wedding. They were bragging about him adopting. They’d accepted it all, turns out they only called Billy’s dad because they thought he’d manipulated Cameron. If he’d just said “he’s my boyfriend.” It all would have been ok. 

“So as you can imagine my already fragile ability to trust was now almost non existent. My mother left, my father hated me and my boyfriend betrayed me. And now I’m in a town with no friends, my dad, step mother and a stepsister who can do no wrong in my dad’s eyes. He was smart too, I got punished for her mistakes, so I resented her. Hated having to watch her, take her wherever she wanted to go. I was an asshole to her, and her friends. It wasn’t until I realized that she really didn’t know what happened to me, how I paid for her mistakes, that I eased up. She became one of my fiercest protectors, you guys know the other one.” 

Steve smiled over at him. He was still sitting on the floor. He was blowing on his freshly painted nails. Billy was excited to get to this part, to tell the world about meeting Steve. To tell the world about the boy who made him strong, the boy who made him happy. This was the part of his story that really mattered. Made all the other stuff worth it. 

“I came here with my cocky attitude, all swagger. I took over as king of our school. I taunted Steve, tried to put the old king in his place. He just ignored it and that was infuriating. No matter what I did I couldn’t get a rise. Part of it was posturing, but mostly, I was pulling his proverbial pig tails. He was beautiful, and I wanted. I was terrified. So I pushed and pushed, and nothing. It came to a head, Max had run off with her friends. My dad laid into me about her and send me looking. I found her and, in one of my more disgusting moments, I threatened her, put my hands on one of her friends. Steve stepped in and I beat the hell out of him. I almost killed him.” 

Billy stopped again, he looked down. He didn’t want to look at the camera. So he closed his eyes, head hanging in shame. He felt Steve’s hand in his so he opened his eyes. Steve had moved, was still on the floor, just out of frame, but he was holding Billy’s hand. Steve brought Billy’s hand to his lips and kissed it. Billy took a deep breath and composed himself.

“Anyone else in their right mind would’ve run. Gotten as far away from me as possible. But Steve, he figured something wasn’t right. I showed up to school looking like I’d been hit by a truck. He knew he didn’t get that many hits in, so he pulled me aside and grilled me. He has an uncanny ability to get information out of people. I gave him some vague answer but it was enough to make him pay attention. He finally put two and two together and offered me a place to go if I needed to get away. That led to us finally having an actual conversation which led to friendship and that turned into a relationship. And that led to this video today. So I hope this little bit of background kept your interest and helped you guys know a little more about me. And I know it seems like I ended the story about Steve and I abruptly, it’s only because we have the q&a so I don’t want to repeat too much. So stay tuned for part two, and we’ll answer some questions for you guys. See ya soon.”


	2. You've got questions, we've got answers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q&A time with Billy and Steve.

“Hi everybody, thanks for tuning in. We’re back and ready to answer some of your questions. I hope you guys liked hearing Billy’s backstory. So we gathered your questions and picked a bunch out. So let’s get to it.” 

Steve and Billy were side by side, Billy had one arm around Steve’s shoulders and Steve had his head resting on Billy’s shoulder. They were smiling at the camera and Billy was decidedly less nervous this time. Billy wasn’t as comfortable on camera as Steve, he was much more of a still photo kind of guy. His instagram feed was proof of that. He posted gym photos, pics of him on the job, selfies, lots of selfies. Steve however flourished on video. He pulled out his old “King Steve” charm and doled out advice, or just had conversations, doing a lot of live chats. His followers loved the live chats, and those were how most of them came to know Billy who would occasionally pop on at Steve’s behest. And people wanted to know about Steve’s boyfriend and about them as a couple. And Billy was never one to deny Steve. So here they were.

“First question, ‘when and where did you first meet?’” Steve read

“Hawkins high, basketball court, officially, unofficially was that Halloween party where I stared you down for a full minute. “

“I remember that, didn’t know if you wanted to kill me or kiss me.” 

“Probably a little of both. Ok next question, ‘who said, I love you, first’?”

“Billy. We were making pizza, I was shaping the crust and he was watching and he just looked at me for a while then said it.” 

“You looked adorable, you had flour on your cheek and your hair was all messy and you were so focused on shaping the dough. You were just so happy and it made me all warm and happy. So I said it. And yes everyone, he said it right back.” 

They looked at each other and kissed, then turned back to the camera. They went on and on taking turns asking the question and both interjecting answers. They worked pretty quickly through the mundane questions like favorites and funny quirks. They were getting to the questions that had a little more detail to them. 

“How did Billy feel about Steve starting a Youtube channel?”

“I was fine with it. Still am. Talking helps him, he likes to help other people too. I know he never expected it to take off like it has. He just wanted to have somewhere to share his experiences. He’s had a lot happen, from coming out as bisexual, his learning disabilities, his mental health and his eating disorder. I was a little concerned with the comments, I know people can be harsh but he deals with it all and what he puts out there seems to help.” 

“My turn!” Steve pulled the paper from Billy’s hand. Billy just shook his head. “ Who asked who out?”

“I asked Billy. We had been out at a party and he kind of drunkenly confessed he liked me and wanted to kiss me while I was pouring him into bed. So when we woke up the next day I asked him if he wanted to be together over breakfast.” Steve looked over at Billy who had picked up his bedazzled rose gold brush.

“I can’t believe you have a boujee ass brush.” Bill was waving the brush in Steve’s face.

“I can’t believe you just said boujee.” Steve laughed

“Me either, I must be low on caffeine. Let’s see what we got here.” Billy picked up the paper with the questions, “Who’s the grumpiest in the morning? Oh that’s easy, the princess over here. I don’t think he even knows what a morning is.”

“It should be illegal to be awake before 10 am. This question is for me, how old was Steve when he was diagnosed with his learning disorders? So technically I was 18. I was in third grade when it was first brought up, but my dad just thought I was lazy. I didn’t get to have the actual tests done until I was 18?”

“Best thing you ever did, baby.” Billy smiled at him. “So let’s see what’s next. Ok this one is good, ‘What’s the deal with Steve’s parents. Sometimes Steve makes them seem uninterested in his life, but then Billy talks about Jim and Joyce like they’re so amazing. Which is it?”

“Ok so, I have my biological parents, who are the ones that kinda suck, then I have surrogate parents, and that’s Jim and Joyce. And they are wonderful people. They’re who we both go to when we need parental advice. I differentiate by calling my parents “my parents” and using Jim and Joyce’s names. So next question. ‘How did the relationship evolve.”

“So I gave a quick outline yesterday, but after our fight,” Billy gestured between himself and Steve, “I went home. Max was upset with me so she mentioned it to my dad. He took it upon himself to teach me a lesson for upsetting Max. I showed up at school beat all to hell. Stevie wouldn’t leave me alone until I told him about my dad. He offered me a safe place, which I needed a least once a week. We started talking more and more outside those nights and eventually I told him I was gay. He wasn’t bothered and like he said, drunk confession and we were dating. We had to keep it secret but Steve was ok with that. He didn’t want me hurt. We were both dealing with crap parents and we just got each other. “ Steve kissed Billy on the nose, then turned back to the camera.

“Let’s see, oh! K, ‘what was your first impression of each other?’ So I thought he was a cocky bastard. I also wasn’t aware that I liked guys yet so he irritated the hell out of me with his attitude.”

“Yeah, I was an asshole. I saw him and my brain quit working. I was also sure I was having heart palpitations. I saw him and I knew I was in trouble. I saw him smile and I was just done. He was, and still is the most beautiful person I’d ever seen. He was the new star of some very wonderful fantasies.” Billy smiled, tongue poking out. 

“Hey, don’t get me de-monetize with your dirty mouth over there. Keep those to yourself, I am a lady.” Steve spoke in an exaggerated haughty accent. 

“Perhaps I could interest the lady in a pearl necklace?” Billy wiggled his eyebrows while Steve looked scandalized.

“BILLY!” Steve put his head down blushing while Billy gave a wide grin.

“Alright, next question, ‘How did your parents react to you coming out?’ You wanna answer first Stevie?” Billy asked

“Yeah. So my parents were pretty indifferent. I’m still not sure they actually know. I told them I like guys as well as girls and they kind of waved me off. My mom actually said ‘that’s nice’ and kept reading her texts. My dad said he didn’t want to hear about my sex life. Jim and Joyce and my little group of nerds were fine. It’s all about happiness as far as they're concerned. I was actually surprised my parents weren’t upset.” 

“I’m not sure what my stepmom thinks, she wasn’t around when I told my dad. I didn’t stick around to see my dad’s reaction when I told him, but it pretty much went as expected. I had my car packed, ready to move in with Stevie here, we were leaving town. I honestly wasn’t even going to say goodbye but he pulled in as I was starting the car. He made some snide comment about me being back soon. I told him that no I wouldn’t be, I was going to live with my boyfriend of two years. The one I’d had right under his nose. I put the car in reverse and yelled at him ‘I’m gay dad, deal with it.’ Then I peeled out.”

“The way he came roaring into my driveway I thought he’d robbed a bank or something. Made me open my garage so he could hide his car. Everything clicked when he told me he’d told his dad.” 

“Max was at a friend’s house so I called her and told her to be prepared. She said as soon as she walked in the door the interrogation started. Did she know, was she helping hide it, who was it. And Max, who was always braver than me, told him yes she did know, yes she helped hide it and that it was none of his business who. She said he called people in San Diego to tell them about me, to have them spread the word. Luckily we weren’t going there. He tore apart whatever I’d left behind looking for clues. She eventually told him who, she waited til we had been gone a few months then mentioned it over breakfast. She said he nearly popped a blood vessel and went on a big rant, calling all the other kids' parents, who all thought he was crazy.”

“She’s always been a jerk like that. Just drops bombs all casually. She likes to torture Neil. Remember when she sent him a ‘save the date’ for her and Lucas?’ Steve looked at Billy, giggling.

“Oh yeah, her mom called her and told her they were convinced Neil was going to have an aneurysm. He had to take one of his heart pills.” Billy looked at the camera to explain, “ for context, remember, Neil is racist, Lucas is black. And his precious step daughter was going to marry him.” 

“Did Susan finally divorce him?” Steve asked

“Yeah, he made too much of an issue about the wedding. Her new boyfriend is nice though, he sends Max and Lucas money to help since they’re both still in school. Max said he even asked Susan why she didn’t stick up for me more.” 

“The battery is gonna die.” Steve said pointing to the camera.

“Go check it real quick, I wanna do one last question.” Steve got up and checked the percentage.

“It’s at 15 so hurry get the last one in.” 

“Ok, final question, Stevie, will you marry me?” Steve looked over at Billy, eyes wide, then he spotted the ring Billy was holding up. His mouth opened and closed. Billy though he might have broken him.

“YES! Duh yes! Oh my god baby!” Billy slid the ring on Steve’s finger who held his hand up to the camera and exclaimed, “We’re engaged! We’re gonna get married!”


End file.
